Carrot Production Guide

Family: Umbelliferae

Genus and species: Daucus carota var sativus

Soils: Deep, friable soils free of obstructions.

• Poorly drained soils are likely to encourage the spread of bacterial diseases
• Heavy clay soils are also likely to encourage production of twisted, malformed roots of poor quality
• Optimum soil pH 5.5-6.5

Fertilizers:

• Fertilizer requirements depend on soil fertility and are applied at planting
• Carrots require 70-120kg/ha of N, 30-35kg/ha of P and 0-55kg/ha of K
• Avoid fresh manure as this causes root hairs on carrot root

Water:

• Adequate soil moisture necessary at germination
• Avoid crusting which affects root development.
• Growth requires both adequate moisture and drainage
• Excess water can reduce root color intensity
• Drought stress lowers quality
• Inadequate drainage leads to impeded growth, misshapen roots.
• Fluctuating water leads to cracking.
• More foliar diseases with overhead irrigation or high RH
• Adequate moisture of 45-90cm is required during the  growing season

Harvesting and handling

• Carrots for the fresh market are harvested when the majority of the roots are 2.5-3.5cm in diameter at the crown
• They can be harvested 65-85days or longer after planting depending on the temperature
• Processing carrots are left in the ground longer as both the dry matter and color, increases with maturity
• The carrots are hand pulled or fork lifted.

The ground may need to be irrigated to facilitate easy harvesting